In 1961, BELL LABORATORIES ( USA ) physicist Eugene Kunzler and co-workers discovered that niobium–tin continued exhibition of superconductivity while in the presence of strong electric currents and magnetic fields, which made niobium-tin the first [ 1st ] material used to support High Field Strength ( HFS ) electrical currents and magnetic field strengths necessary for use in high-power electro-magnets and electrical power machines.

High Field Strength Element ( HFSE ) Niobium ( Nb ) holds far greater use from such properties than most professionals and the public realize so, before advancing any further on this subject, a basic foundation of understanding on such materials, elements and their valuable properties must be realized about this ‘extremely old Earth energy resource’, ‘how to harvest it ( from its original molten state )’, ‘how to capture and contain its volatile properties’, and then ‘transform it into applications’ for transportation - ‘yet unrealized factual knowledge’ on this extremely low-cost extremely powerful high-energy resource.

How can such a volatile molten resource be ‘excavated’ while simultaneously being isolated from any exposure to contaminations from ‘seawater’, ‘oxygen’ or other environmentals to harness high-energy properties?

The molten material would additionally have to be placed into a likewise uncontaminated ‘ultra-clean chamber’, whereupon after transport, ’high-energy properties extraction’ must undergo a ‘seamless application process’ for utilization.

What type of use? More basic fundamentals must be initially understood so, let’s begin by taking a look at what’s bubbling out of ultra-deep sea volcano vents and instantly becoming contaminated by seawater ( below ):

To comprehend this, along with the importance of harnessing natural Earth high-energy magnetic properties, a basic understanding must be reached from what science, physics and astrophysics indications always seem to avoid for the public.

The purpose of this preliminary report Part 1 is to bring rare knowledge into better public understanding while stimulating solution-minded professionals wishing more done.

Have scientists, physicists, and astrophysicists ‘missed some major solution’ in their discoveries? Are portions of certain discoveries ‘kept quite’ considering serious repercussions? While highly doubtful that any small discovery having a major impact missed any application outlook, ramifications nevertheless are considered by professionals on whether a socio-economic impact will allowed to be proven helpful or otherwise.

Good advice may be to buckle your seatbelt because you are about to venture into some information few have ever known about. Whether most of those reading this may be able to absorb this information ( below ) now, or later, it is suspected that after much easier reading comes in Part 2 through Part 5, most will probably refer back to Part 1 ( herein ).

Obtaining these properties may be resolved, however while natural initial ingress of high-temperature ( Tave 713° C to Tave 722° C ) fluid occurences at liquid melts [ magma ] have seen amphibole-plagioclase thermometry suggests ‘fracture and grain’ boundary ‘permeability’ – with seawater derived fluids – ‘open’ over similar temperature interval, however venturing into ultra-deep sea trench arcs and then burroughing into natural state volcanic magma dome vents capturing natural essence of titanmagnetite, and then containing it for processing HFSE properties further may be difficult so, is there an alternative to this type of extraction?

In support of our hypothesis, we provide high-precision multiple trace element data, including the High Field Strength Elements ( HFSE ), in separated magnetites and mafic mineral phases from mafic ‘magmatic enclaves’ associated with ‘tonalite suites’ of two [ 2 ] different ‘magmatic arcs’, the:

The Tanzawa Complex is composed of diverse rock suites with SiO2 varying from 43% – 75%, ranging from hornblende gabbro through tonalite to leuco-tonalite. The geochemical characteristics of low K – tholeiites, enrichment of Large Ion Lithophile Elements ( LILE ), and depletion of HFSE [ High Field Strength Elements ] in rocks of this plutonic complex are similar to those observed in the volcanic rocks of the IBM arc.

The Ladakh batholith Complex is one of the granitic belts exposed north of the Indus-Tsangpo suture zone in Ladakh, representing calc-alkaline plutonism related to the subduction of the Neotethys floor in Late Cretaceous. This batholith comprises predominantly I-type granites with whole rock delta delta 18O values of 5.7-7.4 per mil, without major contribution from continental crustal material.

In separated magnetites, from five [ 5 ] gabbros of the Tanzawa tonalite-gabbro complex and from three [ 3 ] tonalitic gabbros of the Ladakh batholith, we analyzed 22 trace elements by ICP-MS, including:

It is noteworthy that in the normalized trace element plot, all the magnetites show ‘high’ Nb [ Niobium ] / Ta ratios, and in contrast with high Ta / Nb [ Niobium ] ratios were observed in typical arc [ volcanic ] magmas.

These data support our hypothesis, that:

Magmatic crystallization, of Fe [ Iron ] – Ti [ Titanium ] oxides ( under high oxygen fugacity conditions ) during ‘initial crystallization and formation’ ( of the Izu-Bonin and Ladakh-type arc batholiths ) may be the primary cause of depletion of HFSE [ High Field Strength Elements ] in later magmatic differentiates of less mafic and more felsic granitic arc rocks.

The petrographic or chemical zonation of plutons, has been widely studied and used to constrain petrogenetic processes and emplacement mechanisms.

The time involved in modal data collection, as well as the cost of chemical analyses, makes the search for pluton-scale zoning patterns the exception rather than the norm in ‘magmatic arc studies’, however magnetic susceptibility ( Km ) of plutonic rocks – both magnetite bearing and magnetite free – can be an invaluable tool to quickly assess the internal organization of any pluton.

New field observations, new magnetic mineral data, and reprocessed Km data on the Barcroft granodiorite pluton ( White Mountains, California ) are presented.

The average Km of 660 specimens from 76 stations ranges from 140 x 10-6 [ SI ] to 75000 x 10-6 [ SI ] with an average at about 16800 x 10-6 [ SI ].

The distribution of Km is unimodal.

The hysteresis parameters of the Barcroft rocks indicate that Km is controlled mainly by multi-domain magnetite.

The contribution of mafic silicates ( biotite and hornblende ) to Km ranges from 0.4 to 99%, with an average at about 1.8%.

As in many other ferromagnetic ( i.e. magnetite – bearing ) plutons, Km variations reflect different amounts of magnetite which itself results from petrographic variations.

This is supported by the positive correlation between major oxide variations ( e.g., SiO2, FeO ) and Km.

A new Km map of the Barcroft pluton shows several important features including, a:

(a) Low Km zone in the SW corner of the pluton, near areas that exhibit economic mineralization possibly related to hydrothermal fluids;

(b) Few isolated anomalies that may be attributed to transformation of normal magnetite into lodestone;

(c) North south high Km ridge that could possibly result from local mingling between the main granodiorite rock type and syn-plutonic mafic dikes;

(d) Broad reverse Km zonation ( i.e. higher Km in the centre ); and,

(e) Possible ‘positive correlation between Km’ and ‘topographic elevation ( between 5,000 and 13,000 feet )’, which could be explained by a higher fO2 at a higher structural level in the chamber.

These preliminary results suggest that, the:

(1) Syn-plutonic diking may play a significant role in the geochemical differentiation of granodiorite plutons;

(2) Classic dichotomy between ilmenite [ Ilm ] series and magnetite [ Mag ] series of granitoids might at least – to some extent – depend on the ‘exposure level’ if such intrusions are confirmed to be vertically differentiated; and,

(3) Mapping Km in a ferromagnetic pluton can be an efficient tool to constrain its internal organization.

The geochemistry and petrology of the lower oceanic crust record information about the compositions of melts extracted from the mantle, how these melts mix and crystallize, and the role of hydrothermal circulation in this portion of the crust.

Unfortunately, lower oceanic crust formed at fast spreading ridges is rarely exposed at the seafloor making it difficult to study these processes.

At Hess Deep, crust formed at the East Pacific Rise ( EPR ) is exposed due to the propagation of the Cocos-Nazca spreading center westward.

Here we review our state of knowledge of the petrology of lower crustal material from Hess Deep, and document new mineral major and trace element compositions, amphibole-plagioclase thermometry, and plagioclase crystal size distributions.

Samples from the deeper parts of the gabbroic sequence contain clinopyroxene that is close to being in trace element equilibrium with erupted basalts but which can contain primitive ( moderate Cr, high Mg# ) orthopyroxene and very calcic plagioclase.

Because primitive Mid-Ocean Ridge Basalts ( MORB / MORBs ) are not saturated with orthopyroxene or very calcic plagioclase this suggests that melts added to the crust have variable compositions and that some may be in major but not trace element equilibrium with shallow depleted mantle.

These apparently conflicting data, are most readily explained if some of the melt – extracted from the mantle – is fully aggregated within the mantle but reacts with the shallow mantle during melt extraction.

The occurrence of cumulates, with these characteristics, suggests that ‘melts added to the crust’ do not all get mixed with normal MORB [ Mid-Ocean Ridge Basalts ] in the Axial Magma Chamber ( AMC ), but rather that ‘some melts partially crystallize’ in isolation within the lower crust.

However, evidence that primitive melts fed the AMC [ Axial Magma Chamber ], along with steep fabrics in shallow gabbros ( from near the base of the dyke complex ), provides support for models in which crystallization within the AMC followed by crystal subsidence is also an important process in lower crustal accretion.

More evolved bulk compositions of gabbros ( from the upper than lower parts of the plutonic section ), are due to greater amounts of ‘reaction with interstitial melt’ and not because their parental melt had become highly fractionated through the formation of large volumes of cumulates deeper in the crust.

Amphibole-plagioclase thermometry confirms, previous reports, that the initial ingress of fluid occurs at high-temperatures in the shallow gabbros ( Tave 713° C ) and show that the temperature of amphibole formation was similar in deeper gabbros ( Tave 722°C ).

This thermometry also suggests that fracture and grain boundary permeability for seawater derived fluids was open over the same temperature interval.

The origin of compositional gaps in volcanic deposits that are found worldwide, and in a range of different tectonic settings, has challenged petrologists since Daly’s first observations at mid-ocean ridges.

In the shield-forming Akaroa Volcano ( 9.6 – 8.6 Ma ) of Banks Peninsula ( New Zealand ), a dramatic compositional gap exists in both eruptive and co-genetic intrusive products between basalt and trachyte, and between gabbro and syenite respectively.

Previously, the formation of the more evolved trachyte and syenite has been ascribed to ‘crustal melting’, however our analysis of new major data and trace element data from bulk-rocks and minerals – of this hy-normative intraplate alkalic suite – provide evidence based on crystal fractionation and punctuated melt extraction for an alternative model.

The results of our MELTS models are in agreement with experimental studies, and indicate a fractionation generated compositional gap where trachytic liquid ( 62 – 64 wt. % SiO2 ) has been extracted after the melt has reached a crystallinity of 65% – 70 %.

The Aurora volcanic field, located along the northeastern margin of Mono Lake in the Western Great Basin, has erupted a diverse suite of high-K and shoshonitic lava types, with 48 to 76 wt. % SiO2, over the last 3,600,000 million years.

There is no correlation between the age and composition of the lavas.

Three-quarters of the volcanic field consists of evolved ( < 4 wt. % MgO ) basaltic andesite and andesite lava cones and flows, the majority of which contain sparse, euhedral phenocrysts that are normally zoned; there is no evidence of mixed, hybrid magmas.

The average eruption rate over this time period was ˜200 m3/km2/year, which is typical of continental arcs and an order of magnitude lower than that for the slow-spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

All of the Aurora lavas display a trace-element signature common to subduction-related magmas, as exemplified by Ba [ Barium ] / Nb [ Niobium ] ratios between 52 and 151.

Pre-eruptive water contents ranged from 1.5 wt. % in plagioclase – rich two-pyroxene andesites to ˜6 wt. % in a single hornblende lamprophyre and several biotite-hornblende andesites.

However, development of the calc-alkaline trend – through fractional crystallization of titanomagnetite – would have caused the residual liquid to become so depleted in ferric iron that its oxygen fugacity would have fallen several log units below that of the Ni [ Nickel ] – NiO [ Nickel - Oxygen ] buffer.

Nor can fractionation of hornblende be invoked, since it has the same effect – as titanomagnetite – in depleting the residual liquid in ferric iron, together with a thermal stability limit that is lower than the eruption temperatures of several andesites ( ˜1040 1080°C ; derived from two-pyroxene thermometry ).

In contrast to fractional crystallization, closed system equilibrium crystallization will produce residual liquids with an oxygen fugacity that is similar to that of the initial melt.

However, the eruption of nearly aphryic lavas argues against tapping from a magma chamber during equilibrium crystallization, a process that requires crystals to remain in contact with the liquid.

A preferred model involves the accumulation of basaltic magmas at the mantle crust interface, which solidify and are later remelted during repeated intrusion of basalt.

As an end – member case, closed – system equilibrium crystallization of a basalt, followed by equilibrium partial melting of the gabbro will produce a calc-alkaline evolved liquid ( namely, high SiO2 [ Silicon-Oxygen / Oxide ] and low FeOT / MgO ) with a relative f O 2 ( corrected for the effect of changing temperature ) that is similar to that of the initial basalt.

Differentiation of the Aurora magmas by repeated partial melting of previous underplates in the lower crust, rather than by crystal fractionation in large stable magma chambers, is consistent with the low eruption rate at the Aurora volcanic field.

While the aforementioned information material concludes the introductory portion of Part 1 in this preliminary report, more easily understood materialize is intended to be documented in Part 2 through Part 5 ( previewed below ):

Part 2, of this Preliminary Report ( Part 1 of 5 ), is intended to focus on new ‘methods of capturing’ natural essence High Field Strength Elements ( HFSE );

Part 3, of this Preliminary Report ( Part 1 ), is intended to focus on new ‘discoveries of properties’ from captured natural High Field Strength Elements ( HFSE );

Part 4, of this Preliminary Report ( Part 1 ), is intended to focus on new ‘applied theories’ of natural High Field Strength Elements ( HFSE ); and,

Part 5, of this Preliminary Report ( Part 1 ), is intended to focus on new ‘transports’ having captured natural High Field Strength Elements ( HFSE ).